How do I avoid buying a vignette in Slovenia?
We are presently in Croatia. We are driving to Italy and must transit Slovenia. A vignette is required in Slovenia on "motorways", but I can't find a definition of a motorway? Is E61 from the Croatian border to the Italian border a motorway (a distance of 34 KM) My new map shows it as a red road. That is in the legend as a main road. It is not a motorway of carriage route according to the map.
Ronald
Bountiful, UT United States 10/18/12
Send Private Message
Ronald - I am 95% sure that E61 is NOT a motorway requiring a vignette. I was in Slovenia/Croatia a couple years ago traveling out of Croatia via the same motorway that ends at the border. We headed straight North (towards Postojna) instead of Northwest towards Italy as you are, but both roads look like the same grade on the map I'm looking at. Our road did not need a vignette.
This may be a bit confusing for American speakers, but motorway is basically British English for an Interstate or freeway-grade highway. Expressways, also tolled, are very similar, only with a lower speed limit and without a hard shoulder/emergency lane.
The easiest way to distinguish them is that directional signage on motorways in Slovenia is generally with a green background, on expressways blue and on all other roads yellow.
Mind you that an E number (European route) is usually no indication of what type of road it is. Roads marked as European routes can vary from tolled 8-lane freeways to untolled narrow mountain roads.
And like Edward said, road 7 (E61) from Rijeka past Kozina to Trieste is a regular road with no tolls.